


Sprachraum

by Island_of_Reil



Category: The Goblin Emperor - Katherine Addison
Genre: Academia, Coronation Ceremony 2017, Epistolary, Gen, Languages and Linguistics, Treat, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-14
Updated: 2017-09-14
Packaged: 2018-12-20 05:50:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11914521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Island_of_Reil/pseuds/Island_of_Reil
Summary: An exchange of letters between the Marquess Lanthevel and one of his colleagues, discussing an upcoming philology seminar and some of the theories that will be presented thereat.





	Sprachraum

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ExtraPenguin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ExtraPenguin/gifts).



_Ashedro, Month of Osreian, Eighteenth Day_

To the Marquess Lanthevel: Fond greetings!

We were delighted to receive your letter on the fourteenth. Like you, we are greatly looking forward to the philological seminar at Ashedro in mid-autumn. We are rather optimistic that in the reign of Edrehasivar, who promises a sharp break in the isolationist tradition of his forebears, we will not have to wait so long again for the next as we have for this one. Certainly, scholars from all over the continent and indeed from across all the oceans should now feel far more welcome in the Ethuveraz.

It is our understanding that over the last few years, though it is not within his usual purview, Rathonar has been compiling evidence that the name _Tethimar_ does in fact originate from a portmanteau of _Tetar_ and _Athamar,_ as long assumed in folk etymology but never conclusively proven. Our guess is that, had House Tethimada not been extirpated and its name become (at the very least) gauche to speak in public, Rathonar would have been named keynote speaker. Instead that honor falls to Tarkhaneth. We were curious to hear your thoughts on her theories, especially that concerning initial _zh_ in Ethuverazhin.

With warm regards,  
Viscount Dosharel

****

_Cetho, Month of Osreian, Twenty-Fourth Day_

Our dearest Dosharel: Greetings!

Your understanding with regard to Rathonar is ours as well. The political complication is a pity for him but it will certainly not derail the long career of such an accomplished scholar. While the seminar agenda has not yet been printed, we have heard that there will be a panel on Early Ilinveriärin, and we cannot imagine that he will not be on it.

As for Min Tarkhaneth, we must say we have been most unfair to her in the past: we assumed her theories on the influence of Barizhin upon Ethuverazhin were borne of pride in her part-goblin heritage. The two tongues’ well-attested divergence from their common ancient ancestor is a far more parsimonious explanation. However, a closer review of her work has convinced us that it is not without its merits, although we still do not agree with her on all points. To wit:

1\. Initial _zh_ , as you mentioned. Overwhelmingly, words and especially names beginning with the voiced palato-alveolar sibilant are of foreign origin, mainly Barizhin. In rare cases it is another tongue, such as Celvazhin; an example is the north-country word _zhornu_ , literally “cousin” and figuratively “comrade.” In Celvazhin the initial consonant is the voiced postalveolar affricate. As most native Ethuverazheise cannot pronounce that sound well, it was softened when the word crossed the border into the Elflands.

However, most instances of initial _zh_ in Ethuverazhin either originate in Barizhin or were influenced by it. For example, House _Zherinada_ ’s lands are in Thu-Tetar, quite close to the border. The city of _Zhaö_ is considerably further north, but it is yet within the linguistic area that has been affected by usages in Barizhin over the millennia since the two languages diverged, and indeed until the rise of the Varedeise dynasty it was long home to a prosperous and respected goblin community. The late Lady Zharo Rohetharan, _née_ Ormevin, was named so thanks to her father’s fondness for the adventure novels of Amu Carcethlened. Said naming caused a mild stir in their rather elevated circles, but the Ormevada have enough power and influence to get away with such eccentricities.

The glaring exception to the rule is, of course, _zhas_ and its derivatives. It is fascinating that the initial sound is so rare in our native tongue, yet it commences the title of the most powerful man in our society. Tarkhaneth believes this can be explained simply by Cetho also being within the area of Barizheise linguistic influence. We doubt this, as Cetho is an immensely powerful city with a wide sphere of influence, much wider than that of the Corat’ Dav Arhos, and has been for centuries.

More plausible is the competing theory that the word was a borrowing to supplant the original Ethuverazhin word for emperor, which became taboo due to imperial association with the gods. That said, any such borrowing likely occurred long before the _Thu_ were lettered; there is no undisputed cognate of _zhas_ in Modern Barizhin or any other surviving tongue, nor any attestation in known ancient texts. We suspect that adherents of the theory will have to wait for a new scroll to turn up somewhere before they can be vindicated.

2\. Initial syllable _sev-_. Of course, the ruling house of Barizhan is House Sevraseched, and the Ethuverazheise city of Sevezho stands relatively close to the border. However, we think Tarkhaneth is on unstable ground when she concludes that the syllable _invariably_ betrays goblin influence. There is a scholar and Witness by the family name of Sevesar who is entirely of elvish lineage and who in fact hails from Thu-Cethor — hardly a principality with much goblin influence. We have asked him about his house before; he says it is of pure Ethuverazheise stock and that until his grandfather’s day his kin had raised sheep in the northern mountains for generations. Of course, it is not _impossible_ that there is a Barizheise connection, but it is surpassingly unlikely.

3\. The familial suffixes _-ed_ and _-ada_. Tarkhaneth takes the radical stance that this is once again an example of Barizhin influencing Ethuverazhin, but this is highly doubtful. We do not see her theory ever displacing the nearly universally accepted view that both tongues once used _-ada_ , but the final _a_ withered away in Barizhin some two thousand years ago and the backness of the remaining vowel shifted from central to mid-front. The inscriptions upon the Stones of Urvekh’ support this, despite the rather tendentious argument that centuries of weathering have compromised them as linguistic evidence.

Speaking of regional influences, are you familiar with the work of Metonezh?

With fond regards,  
Marquess Lanthenel

****

_Ashedro, Month of Orshan, Second Day_

To our good friend Marquess Lanthevel: Greetings once more! And please forgive us the brief delay in our reply.

We are indeed acquainted with the studies of Mer Metonezh. It is tempting, as it was and still is to some degree with Min Tarkhaneth, to reject his theories as borne of pride in his bloodline. We are in qualified agreement with his theory that the letter sequence _evr_ originates from an archaic Nazhmorhathvereise word for “wasteland” — so archaic that, outside of proper nouns, there is no record of it appearing at all in Ethuverazhin. Thus, _Thu-Evresar_ , the _Evressai_ Steppes, and the River _Evresartha_. The given name _Evru_ would therefore mean “(child) of the wasteland”; similarly for _Evrenis_ , but with a masculine gender marker preceded by an extra syllable that was likely interpolated thanks to the influence of other masculine names ending in _-nis_.

However, as with Tarkhaneth’s theory of _zh-_ , it is once again the highest-born who throw a spanner wrench into the works. Metonezh does not argue that it is only initial _evr-_ which signifies a wasteland but the letter sequence in general, and that this holds true in both Ethuverazhin and Barizhin despite the lack of direct mutual influence between the Nazhmorhathvereisei and the Barizheisei. How, then, would he explain _Sevraseched_? Certainly there are wastelands in Barizhan, but House Sevraseched is and has always been based on the coast of the Chadevan Sea. Metonezh might find support for his theory if he reached out to a Barizheise genealogist. Then again, it might be rather impolitic for a goblin to imply that the Avar of Avarsin descends in even small part from a western plains cattle herder.

Pray tell us, what have you yourself been working on of late, and shall we have the privilege of hearing you discuss it at the seminar?

With warm regards,  
Viscount Dosharel

****

_Cetho, Month of Orshan, Eighth Day_

Greetings yet again, dear Dosherel!

We suspect that Maru Sevraseched would be considerably less offended by the implication of common blood in his heritage than would have been any Varedeise emperor. That said, we could not blame a hypothetical Barizheise genealogist for declining to take up the argument either way.

We will be taking part in the panel on Estelveriärin sacred chants and their influence on Porcharneise liturgical poetry. Our current project, which will not be ready for the seminar, is a monograph on the syllable _ai_. As a suffix it denotes privation, as in _zhasanai_. We are investigating whether it carries a similar meaning in other positions in a word. Our theory is centered on the feminine given name _Aizheän_ and the southern masculine surname _Aizheveth_. There is an Barizhin archaism _zheäs_ , meaning “flaw” or “fault.” If _ai_ is prefix as well as suffix, and the archaic word once existed in Ethuverazhin but lingers therein only in nomenclature, the aforementioned names would mean “flawless, perfect.”

Of course, we are not so ambitious as to try to pin such origins on every Ethuverazhin word beginning with _ai-_ , let alone every word containing it within. The feminine given name _Ailano_ , for example, means a gazelle, and the etymological root is _ail-_. Similarly, in the family name _Aisava_ , the root may very well be _ais-_ , as there is no clear consensus on the meaning of the middle sequence _-sa-_ or even whether it has significance unto itself.

On a parting note, do be aware that at this writing we and our niece are headed for our country estate in Thu-Athamar, where we will spend the last two weeks of this month before returning to Ashedro for the academic year. We anticipate that you and Osmerrem Doshararan shall likewise be retreating to your own estate, and thus our next communications will be in person, to which we very much look forward.

As always, fond regards,  
Marquess Lanthevel


End file.
